About four thousand people left stories about his holiness, and some of them achieved higher scientific degrees.
One of them was Jabir bin Hayyan, who was acknowledged by friends and foes to be the founder of the science of chemistry. Another of his students was Muhammad bin Moslem, who heard and retold thousands of stories about his holiness. His third student is Hisham bin Hakim, an outstanding scholar of his time in the field of scholasticism and beliefs.
One of his Eminence’s Companions, Mu’alli bin Honeys, says: “One evening, when the sky was covered with rain clouds, His Eminence Imam Sadiq left the house and went towards the gazebo called Bani Sayedeh, where the poor and the pilgrims were sleeping. I followed him. Suddenly I noticed that some things fell out of his lordship’s hands. I quickly walked over and said hello. He said, “O Mu’alli, collect them and give them to me.” After rummaging on the ground with my hand, I found several bread cakes, collected them in a small bag and gave them to his light. I asked permission to carry the bag, but his lordship replied that he was more worthy to carry it. When we got to the gazebo, I saw several poor people sleeping. Next to the pillow of each of them, his lordship laid a cake. “Are they your Shiites?” – I asked. “If they were my Shiites, I would care for them even more,” replied his Eminence.
Indeed, one of the missions of His Holiness the Prophet, Imam Ali and our other spiritual leaders was that they always cared for the poor and suffering and tried to alleviate their burdens.
In 148, Imam Sadiq was poisoned by order of the Abbasid caliph Mansur and died a martyr’s death on the 25th of the month of Shawwal at the age of sixty-five. He is buried in Baga cemetery next to his father – Imam Muhammad Bakir, ancestor – Imam Sajjad and paternal uncle – Imam Hasan. May peace be with him.
His Eminence Imam Sadiq’s wife, Umm-Hamideh, says: “Before his death, Imam Sadiq opened his eyes and ordered all his relatives to gather at his bedside. All of the family of Hashimi gathered around him, and he said in their presence: “He who considers prayer a useless matter and does not pay due attention to it will not receive our intercession from the family of the Prophet.”